Rakiya A.Muhammad
Child labour is a stark reality in many parts of Sokoto. The list goes from the hot, dusty fields where young children work the earth to the bustling marketplaces where they bear wheelbarrows filled with heavy cargo to the outskirts where they participate in tyre burning with the concomitant stinky smoke and more.
Children like Mariam, Aminu, Aliyu, Musa, and Mustapha are in a never-ending battle for survival in challenging working situations.
Aminu, who is 12 years old, hails from a remote community in Sokoto State. His father, a farmer, has difficulty making ends meet because of the unpredictable weather and the unfertile soil.
The family sends Aminu, the firstborn of seven siblings, to a nearby market to help out financially, and he spends his days there hauling heavy goods.
The preteen pulls a wheelbarrow filled to the gills in the crowded Sokoto metropolitan market for a meagre N150. Every step is a fight, and every load is a symbol of the emotional and physical weight he bears.
“We pedal the barrow for hours in the blistering heat,” he explains. “No matter how much my body hurts, I have to work nonstop to provide for my family.”
Eleven-year-old Mariam lives in one of the rural communities of Sokoto with her three younger siblings and widowed mother. Mariam’s mother is bankrupt and has no other support, so she resorts to hiring her daughter as a housekeeper for a wealthy family in the city.
The current situation robs Mariam of the right to an education and a childhood while she endures verbal and physical abuse from her employers.
For Musa 9, on the outskirts of Sokoto, the air is thick with the smoky smoke of burning tyres, choking anyone brave enough to breathe. Yet, in the middle of the fire, Musa faces the brutal truth of a life without childhood as he struggles to survive on the hazardous means of livelihood.
10-year-old Aliyu, from a rural village in Sokoto State, represents the thousands of children forced into agricultural labour at a young age.
Aliyu rises before the sun to join other children in the field. Traversing the maze of corn and millet with calloused hands and worn eyes, he carries a large sack that encases his hopes.
The stories of these children shed light on the hardships endured by their families and the economic forces that propel them into child labour.
Despite their tender years, these children dream big in the monotony of everyday work, whether they want to become teachers, doctors, or business tycoons. However, their aspirations frequently collide with the unforgiving truth of their situation, prompting inquiries regarding the cost of ambition in a society characterised by exploitation.
Many parents whose children work as child labourers say they allow them to work because they have no choice.
“To overcome the financial difficulties, we put our children to work,” explains Mariam’s mom.
“Since my husband’s death, It has been challenging to make ends meet. Therefore, I thought my daughter should pitch in.*
Similarly, Aliyu’s dad says, “Even though I am not satisfied with my child’s work condition, I do not have a choice because of the lack of viable alternatives.” He continues, “The low pay, long working hours, and unsafe work environment are a concern, but what do I do? That’s the situation we find ourselves in.”
Many locals are entrenched in the status quo and do not see child labour as an issue of concern, which underlines the need for adequate public awareness of the problem.
A local, Mallam Ibrahim, taken aback that the issue came up front, asked, “What’s wrong with a child working to help the family?”
Nearly one in ten children around the world, or 160 million children, are involved in child labour, making it a significant issue on a global scale.
According to the United Nations, Africa places highest among regions in the percentage of children in child labour fifth -and the absolute number of children in child labour-72 million.
“Children around the world are routinely engaged in paid and unpaid forms of work that are not harmful to them,” ILO explains.
“However, they are classified as child labourers when they are either too young to work or are involved in hazardous activities that may compromise their physical, mental, social or educational development.”
The ILO Convention No.138 on Minimum Age (C138) “aims the effective abolition of child labour—work that is hazardous to children’s health, safety, or morals, work that interferes with compulsory education, or for which they are simply too young.”
In Nigeria, the National Bureau of Statistics report show that over 24 million children are in child labour.
The northwest region of the country, which is home to Aliyu, Mariam, Aminu, Musa, and Mustapha, has the highest number of over 6.4 million children in child labour.
Child labour has become more common in Sokoto State, according to the findings of civil society organisations such as the Save the Child Initiative and the Network Against Trafficking,
ABUSE, AND LABOUR
Abdulganiyu Abubakar, Chief Executive, Save-The-Child Initiative, reveals: “Some of the sectors you find children being abused and exploited include the agricultural industry.
You see a lot of children being mobilised in their numbers by either the traditional school teachers, by their caregivers in some instances to go to work in vast farms and plantations, sometimes these children are taken from remote villages into major towns such as Sokoto, Tureta, Kebbe Dange Shuni, Tangaza, and other neighbouring local government areas even outside Sokoto State.”
He adds, “These exploiters of children capitalise on the fact that the parents of these children cannot take care of them; these children are not in school; they are either out of school or in the street, and when they mobilise them for labour, they reap the fruit of the labour of these children, give a little portion of the amount to the parents and keep a large part of it leaving the children impoverished.”
He notes child labour in households, markets, and other public places.
Child labour abounds despite several laws and mechanisms at the State, national, and international levels that aim to protect children and ensure their rights.
Some examples of such documents are the 1999 Constitution, the Child’s Rights Act, the Child Protection Law, Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), and the Agrican Charter on the Rights and Welfare of Children (ACRWC).
Many saw the November 2021 signing of the Child Protection Bill into law by the Sokoto State government as a significant victory for children’s rights in the state.
Everyone was hoping that the state would take steps to protect children’s rights and well-being even as the government assured full implementation of the law guaranteeing children’s rights, “The rights of children, including that of education for all children in Sokoto, irrespective of their state of origin, is included in the new law,” it states.
“Violation of any child right in Sokoto State is now an offence punishable under the laws governing the state and will no longer be tolerated.”
However, the implementation of the law has left much to be desired. Dr Ahmad Aliyu Sokoto-led administration has expressed commitment to improving the well-being of children in the state.
Commissioner for Women and Children Affairs Hajiya Hadiza Ahmad Shagari says various initiatives were being taken in education and other sectors in the state to achieve the desired objective.
As part of their efforts, she reveals that the ministry re-enrolled 1,500 out-of-school children through a partnership with UNICEF, ensuring that they received the necessary educational materials.
She also highlights initiatives to empower women and youths in the state.
But, many have continued to raise concerns over the inadequacies in social protection systems that fail to prevent child labour and protect affected children.
Sani Dantumi, an expert in child protection, condemns the widespread use of children as labourers.
He stresses that safeguarding children’s rights requires a drastic measure, not a cosmetic one.
Abdulganiyu Abubakar, an activist for children’s rights, calls on the government of Sokoto State to establish a platform where civil society organisations, the media, and development partners can meet on an equal footing to brainstorm ways to maintain positive programmes for children.
He recalls there had been moves aimed at improving the living conditions of children, such as the EU US Spotlight Initiative, which sought to end violence against women and children, particularly girls, with interventions ranging from community awareness, engagements, stakeholders mobilisation, justice sector reform,
“The free education by the state government and the free healthcare for mothers, women, and children under five are also good government initiatives that seek to promote the well-being and development of children,”
Abubabar points out even as he notes challenges surrounding the implementation.
However, he points out CSOs such as Save the Child Initiative, Centre for People Health, Peace, and Progress, and the Life Helpers Initiatives are working with UNICEF in Sokoto State, in collaboration with the State Ministry of Women and Children Affairs and the Arabic and Islamic Education Commission, to improve children’s conditions.
“We ensure that children of school age are in school, those who are on the street are mobilised and provided adequate care, psychosocial support, a second chance education to acquire education, and meaningful livelihood skills,” he discloses.
“Through these interventions, there is a lot of awareness creation; there are a lot of efforts to remove children from the street and ensure children of school-going age are in school; some of these efforts include providing educational support and scholarships.”
However, the Save- the- Child Initiative boss laments the lack of adequate resources to reach all of Sokoto State. “Sokoto State comprises 23 Local Government Areas (LGAs). Unfortunately, every one of these LGAs has similar problems: many children living on the streets, a high percentage of children not in school, and there are still children at the Almajiri School who are victims of abuse and exploitation.”
He underscores the need for the government and non-government actors to work together to provide a long-term solution.
Public policy analyst Hajiya Hadiza Ahmed urgently underlines the necessity of adhering to the International Labor Organization’s (ILO) guidelines on child labour, noting Convention No. 138 and Recommendation No. 146.
The document underscores the crucial role of national policies and plans in addressing poverty, creating adult employment opportunities so parents don’t have to use children as labour, ensuring free and mandatory education, providing vocational training, offering social security, facilitating birth registration, and establishing facilities to protect children and teenagers who work.
Hajiya Hadiza believes that stringent execution of the recommendations will effectively combat the problem and offer Mariam, Aminu, Musa, Aliyu, and all other youngsters entangled in the child labour net a new lease on life.
